Explorer shell replacements question

[Bethrezen]

Hi all

As we all know windows explorer (not to be confused with Internet explorer) is somewhat buggy and it often crashes taking out the rest of the system along with it (Blue Screen of Death) for the longest time this has bugged me no end because this always seems to happen right when I'm in the middle of doing something important like system updates which often causes the whole system to become unstable because the update wasn't completed properly which usually resorts in system restore but it can also happen when I'm just doing a lot of multi tasking and playing a particularly resource heavy game and some times it happens when I’m not really doing anything for instance it crashes on start up which really irritates me

That being said I have been looking for a way round this problem and after much searching I think I found a solution I've discovered that there are alternatives shell programs for window like lite shell that are capable of completely replacing windows explorer

Now according to what I've read These often function much better are much lighter on system resource and wont take out the system if and when they crash

So id like to know if any of you here have ever had any experience with alternative shells and if so what have been your experiences with them how easy or hard are they to set up how well do they function are they really able to do what they say they can

Also could you list any alternative shells you have used so that I can have a look

[meneer]

I can't say that I am convinced that shell replecement programs are better than the regular explorer shell. I tried Lite step and Aston. Installing could be a breeze, but you have to read the instructions carefully. Always have a boot diskette at hand, for installing litestep could result in an unusable system if you get the config wrong.
You install the shell in system.ini (or win.ini, sorry lost my win 98 system ;)) by replacing the shell=explorer.exe with the shell=path/shellreplacement statement. It is amazing how easy this can go wrong. For instance, my path name was /Program Files/litestep. Not bad, but there was a 'space' character and the shell could not be found. Try running windows without a shell... ::)

Tuning the system to your linking is not so easy. I never made the time to arrange it the way I wanted it. The added value was limited.
But if you manage to dive into the system, you'll get a very nice interface, probably faster and your own.

I tried a few of these (litestep and aston). I have no experience of the others. There are some more.
Litestep (http://www.litestep.com/news.php)
Aston (http://www.astonshell.com/)
Geoshell (http://www.geoshell.com/)
cloud9 (http://www.cloud9ine.com/)
Open Vision (http://openvision.50megs.com/)

Do not hesitate to try them out. There are several installers for litestep and lots of themes available (most open source / free). Just don't forget: keep a boot flop at hand!

[Bethrezen]

hi

thanks for ya reply

[Comp01]

Yeah, I was thinking of trying Litestep, since Windows explorer is ALWAYS acting up on my PC, I figured I could backup the win.ini file to a floppy, and if anything failed, boot to DOS, and do a DOS copy from the floppy drive back to where the win.ini file is (I forgot where it is, at the moment), I'm mainly looking for one thats fast, and stable.

[Mystikal]

I didn't like Litestep too much. But hey, everyone has their preference. I like Aston, Talisman and Icefire.